mr. scalise: no. and another things that needs to happen is you need to have a real clear command structure on the ground where decisions are made quickly and decisively, and if things go wrong, there are people you can hold accountable to go fix them. and not to sit around and point finger, but to get things done. and the problem that we continue to have -- and we're over two months into this now. and there was no excuse for these kinds of delays three, four days after the rig exploded. but especially two months later when everybody knows how important this is, how much national significance it has, not only for the 11 lives lost, for the environmental damage, but now for the economic and energy security issues that are being raised. you would think that this would be the number one priority of this president, and he would be focusing all of his resources. and when our local leaders have ideas like our local leaders have had ideas, then the federal government is right there working with them saying,

mr. scalise. th also host the field hearing in new orleans, we had nine members go down in one of the largest field hearings we've had so you can see the interest here. i also also note, miss jackson lee is with us, not a member of the mmittee, she will not be allowed to ask question, but we welcome her and she's sat in on previousearings we've had. so our first witness is mr. tony high hayward who is the chief executive officerf bp plc. you have a right to be advised by counsel during your testimony. do you wish to be represented by legal counsel? i'm sorry, you have to just press that button right there, sir. >> positive dye not. >> we also asked if you would have a technical person with you so you could consult if we ask some questions that you want to run it by your technical person. do you have a technical person with you? >> i do. >> could you state his name and position for the record, please. >> mike zangey, drilling engineer. >> during your testimony, if you want to consult with that indi

mr. scalise of louisiana, mr. gow of louisiana, and -- fro m florida. >> these are states that have been directly impacted. we want to afford the opportunity to any members whose districts lie in harm's way as a result of the terrific impact being felt today. >> thank you. >> you are welcome. let me begin with my opening statement, and then we will refer to the ranking member here and then the ranking member of the full committee would like to make a brief statement. and we will get to the heart of the hearing here with the three panels we have before us this morning. the subcoomittee on energy and mineral resources is meeting today to hear testimony regarding the minerals and management services regulations, the organizational structure that is now being changed as a result of the terrific accident that has taken place on the deepwater horizon on april 20 as of this year. before we begin, i think it is important that we take a moment it knowledge the brave men -- to acknowledge to the brave men who lost their liv

mr. scalise, a member of the commerce and energy committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. scalise: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding. i rise in support of the legislation to give subpoena powers to the commission. i would hope that the commission would be an objective commission that looks into and helps us find out just what went wrong because i think we all need to know what went wrong on that rig , to lead to the explosion that unfortunately took the lives of 11 people, and has led to not only this human loss but also this environmental loss. i would hope that as they -- i would hope that they would be objective in their deliberations. i think i do have concerns that some of the members appear to maybe come to this with a predisposed outcome and they would be well served and the country would be well served if they put their political agendas on the side and actually focused on finding out what went wrong and coming up with real recommendations. now, if we look at the

mr. scalise. they also host the field hearing in new orleans, we had nine members go down in one of the largest field hearings we've had so you can see the interest here. i also also note, miss jackson lee is with us, not a member of the committee, she will not be allowed to ask question, but we welcome her and she's sat in on previous hearings we've had. so our first witness is mr. tony high hayward who is the chief executive officer of bp plc. you have a right to be advised by counsel during your testimony. do you wish to be represented by legal counsel? i'm sorry, you have to just press that button right there, sir. >> positive dye not. >> we also asked if you would have a technical person with you so you could consult if we ask some questions that you want to run it by your technical person. do you have a technical person with you? >> i do. >> could you state his name and position for the record, please. >> mike zangey, drilling engineer. >> during your testimony, if you want to consult with t

mr. scalise. they also host the field hearing in new orleans, we had nine members go down in one of the largest field hearings we've had so you can see the interest here. i also also note, miss jackson lee is with us, not a member of the committee, she will not be allowed to ask question, but we welcome her and she's sat in on previous hearings we've had. so our first witness is mr. tony high hayward who is the chief executive officer of bp plc. you have a right to be advised by counsel during your testimony. do you wish to be represented by legal counsel? i'm sorry, you have to just press that button right there, sir. >> positive dye not. >> we also asked if you would have a technical person with you so you could consult if we ask some questions that you want to run it by your technical person. do you have a technical person with you? >> i do. >> could you state his name and position for the record, please. >> mike zangey, drilling engineer. >> during your testimy, if you want to consult with tha

mr. scalise alluded to it. we have had in my office over 600 requests for submissions for products and ideas and concepts, ways to cap the wells, et cetera, et cetera. basically and of course because of ethics, we -- we can't and won't go in and make anybody meet with anybody. so we just refer them into them. the best i can tell is that -- maybe three out of the 600-muss have received an e-mail back, thank you for your submission. no thank you. there seems to be a closed loop of vendors you're dealing with. is still wide open. when this accident first occurred, everyone said, we're going to take whatever ideas and suggestions or whatever. the copper dam, the -- the top hat, whatever. but, i have seen some people that have called me and we referred them in. they have never heard once from your company. is this just -- if you're not a vendor with us before, we're not dealing with you? or are you going to the vendors and allow them to select who they deal with? my reason is, if there are good ideas out there, why